Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerFairfield Police Department perform a reconstruction of the shooting of Officer Gerald Veneziano, Tuesday near the spot and around the same time he was shot. Fairfield Police Officer Gerald Veneziano, 26, was shot multiple times Saturday evening on his way to work. He remains in critical condition after undergoing surgery.

FAIRFIELD -- The police officer who was shot in an industrial park Saturday evening fired back at his assailants, squeezing off more than a dozen rounds before staggering about 20 feet, then dropping to the ground, authorities said today.

Officer Gerald Veneziano also told investigators from his hospital bed that he believes he was targeted because he was followed from Route 3 in Clifton into Fairfield as he drove to work for his 7 p.m. shift, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino said at a news briefing this afternoon.

The 26-year-old officer, a three-year-veteran of the Essex County force, was shot multiple times in the torso and neck area with an automatic weapon, authorities said. He was attacked after he pulled into an empty parking lot at 300 Fairfield Road, just blocks from police headquarters, got out of his car and confronted two men in the other vehicle, said Anthony Ambrose, chief of detectives for the prosecutor’s office, who also spoke at the briefing.

Gravely injured, Veneziano, who was not in uniform and was not wearing a bulletproof vest, fired 13 rounds from his department-issued semiautomatic service weapon before collapsing, Laurino and Ambrose said.

Investigators have not determined whether any of Veneziano’s shots struck the suspects or their vehicle, which the officer described as a Dodge Magnum, Nitro or Charger. He told investigtors the vehicle, which has not been found, had New Jersey license plates.

A multi-agency task force assigned to the investigation conducted a bullet trajectory reconstruction last night at the scene, trying to determine from where Veneziano fired.

Veneziano remains in critical but stable condition at University Hospital in Newark, where he underwent another round of surgery today, Laurino said.

He lost a substantial amount of blood, has been “in and out of consciousness” and is “heavily medicated as a result of life-threatening injuries,” Laurino said. Veneziano has a breathing tube, but is communicating with detectives by jotting messages on pieces of paper, the prosecutor said.

Veneziano has told detectives there were two men in the other vehicle. However, authorities do not know why he drove his silver Volkswagen Passat into the parking lot to confront the men there instead of driving less than a half-mile to the police station.

Star-Ledger fileFairfield police officer Gerald Veneziano, 26, was shot multiple times Saturday evening on his way to work in Fairfield. He underwent surgery at University Hospital in Newark Saturday night where he remains in critical condition Sunday, January 31, 2010.“Thus far, he is our only witness,” Laurino said of Veneziano, a Belleville resident.

Authorities are also reviewing images from several video surveillance cameras in the area.

Neither Laurino nor Ambrose would speculate about a possible motive for the shooting, whether it was related to Veneziano’s police work or if the officer had received any previous threats.

“We’re looking at everything,” Ambrose said. “We’re looking at anyone he might have pulled over, anyone he might have arrested.”

Moments before he was shot, Veneziano used his cell phone to call an on-duty officer to run a license plate check on the vehicle, which followed him into the lot around 6:15 p.m. The officer did not take the plate number down because he had responded to a nearby Charlie Brown’s restaurant to help a choking victim. That person died, Laurino said.

The shooting has upended the township of 7,000, which hasn’t seen a police officer shot in the department’s 73-year history.

“All my friends who are cops, they’re not even answering their phones now,” said Joe Riotto, a truck driver who’s lived in Fairfield for 13 years. “They’re working ‘round the clock to find whoever did this.”

A $45,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects involved in the shooting. Anyone with information may call the Fairfield tip line at (973) 227-1400.

Staff writers Rohan Mascarenhas, James Queally and Local News Service reporter Nic Corbett contributed to this report.

Press conference on off-duty Fairfield police officer injured in shootingFairfield police officer Gerald Veneziano, 26, of Belleville, was off-duty when he approached a suspicious car parked near an industrial park. Veneziano attempted to call in the vehicle's license plate when gunfire erupted and the officer was shot and injured. A press conference was held in Fairfield town hall this afternoon. (Video by John O'Boyle / The Star-Ledger)